McCormack leaves Luton coaching staff to take up role at Leyton Orient

Luton Town set-piece coach Alan McCormack declared his decision to join League One Leyton Orient as first team coach as one that makes ‘absolute sense’ to him.

The 40-year-old had spent the last three seasons on the coaching staff at Kenilworth Road, returning to Bedfordshire in 2021 to coach in the academy, starting with the U13s up to development squad and then moving to U18s head coach in 2022-23, leading the youngsters to the FA Youth Cup fifth round. McCormack also masterminded Town’s teenagers to EFL Youth Alliance South-East Division and Merit Youth League One title wins, before being promoted to Rob Edwards’ backroom staff in the Premier League at the start of last season.

He has now left Luton for a second time though, having been a player from 2017-19, making 39 appearances and scoring one goal as the Hatters won successive promotions from League Two and League One to reach the Championship. Earlier in his career, McCormack actually made his professional debut for the O’s when joining on loan from Preston, featuring in a 4-1 home defeat to Cheltenham back in August 2003.

That was one of his 10 outings in total for Orient, as he was sent off twice during his stint in east London. The midfielder went on to play over 500 times for Southend, Motherwell, Charlton, Swindon, Brentford and Northampton, as he now heads to the Gaughan Group Stadium to assist O’s head coach Richie Wellens, following the departure of Matt Harrold to AFC Bournemouth.

The midfielder, who also spent some time at Heybridge Swifts as assistant manager, discussed the reasoning behind leaving the Hatters with the O’s official website, as he said: "I'm absolutely delighted. I met Martin (Ling, director of football), and everything about the club made absolute sense for me. The club, the fans, the culture and the foundations that are set here were a big thing for me joining.

"It's (Luton) the only club I've coached in, so it was as smooth a transition from retiring into a club that I knew very, very well, matched everything of my culture, my values, they had that already and installed quite a bit of that into me. I'm looking forward to getting started, pushing players to improve and making sure we are ready for the first game.”

Ling was also thrilled to be able to entice McCormack to Orient, as he continued: “We've spent a lot of time this summer making sure we had the right replacement for Matt Harrold and, for us, Alan fits that mould excellently. His experience as a player and the success he achieved in his time at Luton Town's academy made him the obvious candidate for us. We're really excited to see what Alan can bring to our coaching staff, as we approach pre-season for the 2024/25 season.”

Finally, head coach Wellens added: “As soon as we first met with Alan, we knew that he was the man we wanted to join our coaching staff. Alan's passion for our project, coupled with his experience as both a player and coach made him the standout person for the job. As coaching staff, we have great relationships together and we are confident that Alan will fit seamlessly into the culture here at Leyton Orient."